The Minister said this in a discussion held with the Sri Lanka Agripreneurs’ Forum on the “Future Path and Proposals to Sustainably Overcome the Food Crisis”.

Agricultural entrepreneurs said that although glyphosate is banned by law, inferior glyphosate powder and liquid are still being sold illegally at high prices, and approximately 1.5 billion rupees worth of glyphosate is being illegally imported into Sri Lanka every year.

It was also revealed that due to this, the government loses a large amount of revenue annually and the environmental and health damage caused by the use of substandard glyphosate cannot be disregarded.

Director General of the Department of Agriculture, Dr. Ajantha de Silva, expressing his views on the herbicide, said glyphosate is an essential general herbicide for perennial crops, and emphasized that maize cultivation cannot be successful by implementing the glyphosate ban, especially when maize is about to be widely cultivated.

Dr. Ajantha de Silva also pointed out that the ban on glyphosate should be removed as soon as possible.

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